Fish oil supplements are a popular way to increase the intake of omega-3 fatty acids, which are thought to have a wide range of beneficial effects, particularly for cardiovascular health. But are they effective in preventing cancer? A new study suggests the answer is … maybe.
服用鱼油营养补充剂，是增加欧米加-3脂肪酸摄取量的一种常用方式。欧米加-3被认为对健康有广泛的益处，特别是有益于心血管健康。但是，这些好处是否也包括预防癌症呢?一项新的研究显示，答案是“也许”。
Women in the study — 35,000 of them — were asked in a questionnaire whether they used fish oil supplements. Six years later, those who did were much less likely to have had breast cancer.
参加研究的3万5千名女性首先被问及她们是否服用鱼油。6年之后，服用鱼油的女性罹患乳癌的比例比不服用鱼油的女性要低得多。
"We found that women who were using fish oil at the time that they entered the study had a 32 percent lower risk of breast cancer than women who did not use fish oil supplements," said study leader Emily White of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
主持这项研究的埃米莉·怀特说：“我们发现，这些研究开始时就在服用鱼油营养补充剂的妇女罹患乳癌的风险，比不服用鱼油的妇女低百分之32。”怀特在弗雷德·赫钦森癌症研究中心工作。
She says there's good reason to suspect that omega-3 fatty acids might protect against cancer. "There's a strong evidence that cancer is related to inflammation. So fish oil fits into that mechanism, since it is an anti-inflammatory drug."
她说，有理由设想欧米加-3脂肪酸可能有助于预防癌症：“有非常有力的证据，证明癌症和炎症有关。而鱼油是一种抗炎剂，因此可见它在其中的作用。”
Despite the evidence, White doesn't think her study alone justifies a recommendation that women start taking fish oil capsules.
尽管有这个证据，但怀特并不认为仅仅靠她的研究，就足以建议女性开始服用鱼油胶囊。
"No, I don't think that a single study can lead to public health recommendations to start taking supplements," she says. "Really, we need randomized trials, where people are assigned to take a supplement versus not, to answer whether a pill would be useful to take for cancer prevention."
她说：“我不认为仅仅根据一项研究，就可以提出服用鱼油营养补充剂的公共卫生建议。实际上，我们需要做随机临床试验，随机指定参与研究的人服用或不服用营养剂，由此得到营养补充剂是否有助于预防癌症的答案。”
White explained that in a randomized trial, participants would be randomly assigned to either take the supplements or not.
怀特说，在随机试验中，参与研究者被随机指定服用或不服用营养剂。
